Stronger
by Menaphite
Summary: Helpless. The emotion was one they despised the most. They would never feel it again. Not now, not then, not ever. Follow Ash and his loyal Charmander as they strive to become stronger, to conquer all. Very different from most Kanto region stories.
1. And So it Begins

_**Wanted to do this for a while… My tale of Ash in the Kanto region. Chapters will get significantly longer this is just the prologue. Thanks to **__**The Straight Elf**__**'s fiction called 'Traveler' freaking good story I recommend to all.**_

_**R&R your honest thoughts please.**_

Chapter 1: So it Begins

"Nidorino double kick!" shouted a boy.

Said nidorino raced at it's small frightened opponent. A small charmander quivered in fear and weakly raised it's paws in an attempt to defend. The boy commanding the nidorino growled in frustration. This was supposed to make his charmander stronger, but instead it just sat there pathetically quivering in fear.

The rushing nidorino growled in contempt. The runt wasn't even attempting to fight back. This made his job easier and it would please master. With that thought in mind it jumped and its front two paws glowed with a white light before smashing into the cowering charmander.

With a feeble cry charmander flew back and smashed into a tree. He tried to get back up but it was a folly.

The boy huffed this charmander was a complete waste of his time. He would get rid of it, for a better pokemon to take his place. Turning his eyes to his nidorino he nodded with approval.

"Good job, he knows what strength is now." he said with approval.

Nidorino gave a growl of content at the praise before turning his eyes to his fallen opponent. Giving the fallen charmander a slightly sadistic smirk. The boy's eyes followed his pokemon's and his look of approval turned to disgust. He would definitely get rid of the runt.

"You weak useless creature! I thought you would be strong with that blaze ability of yours, but it seems you were a utter complete waste of time." he shouted.

The fallen charmander just lowered his head even lower into the mud. He was weak. His fellow brothers picked on him and eventually kicked him out of the pack. He wandered alone in the land looking for a place to call home. He was attacked by a rabid pack of raticates when he felt unbelievable strength course through him. He let loose and insane ember that could even be classified as a flamethrower. It just so happened the very boy yelling at him looked at him with approval of his strength and caught him.

He thought he had found a home with his new master.

How wrong he was.

Just days after his master was disgusted with how truly weak he was. This was his last attempt to prove himself. And he failed miserably. So he lay knowing he failed. Knowing he was weak. Knowing he was _helpless_.

Oh how he despised the feel with every ounce of his will.

The feeling to be able to do nothing. Nothing at all. His kind was proud and fierce kind of warriors. They could go tooth and claw with dragons of old! And here he lay broken in the mud helpless.

"I'm done with you, nidorino teach him a lesson horn attack!" he said in a fierce tone.

The nidorino was only to eager to please his master. With that sadistic smirk plastered on his face he rushed at the fallen lizard, his horn secreting the deadly poison. The thing was more monster than pokemon.

Charmander closed his eyes and cried out as the horn pierced his stomach. He felt the venom enter his system.

The boy once again nodded with approval.

"Good job nidorino, shows that weakling. Let's move, there is a storm coming in and I want to sleep indoors tonight." he said.

Nidorino just trotted over to his master and they started to walk away.

With a second thought the boy turned his head back to face the defeated and most likely dying lizard.

"Not that you can, but don't follow me runt were done." he stated with a smirk before turning back again and walking away without a second glance.

Charmander watched him walk away, and then he howled. He howled at the sky for all he's had to endure in his short pathetic life, howled for how weak he was, howled for how _helpless_ he was.

Little did he know soon he would meet someone with the same predicament.

**Line Break**

A small boy with a rats nest of raven black hair sprinted through the forest. Jumping over ridiculously large roots of trees and plants that seemed to be endless.

He was being pursued by a overly territorial raticate. All he was doing was gathering some berries when her heard a feral growl. He slowly turned around to come with a view of a brown furry rat with wickedly sharp fangs and red eyes filled with blood lust.

This was not the first time this happened, but this was certainly the first time he had such a determined predator. 'the thing is insane' he complained to himself.

What makes matters even worse was there was a storm coming in and he was heading in the opposite direction of the nearest structure, which happened to be a pokemon centre.

'Blasted League bastards' he snarled in his mind. He absolutely despised the league. They think they're all so high and mighty ruling the land maintaining peace.

That was a laugh the crime rate from team Rocket alone was disgustingly high. _Team Rocket_ he snarled again at the mention of the name. If there was one thing he hated more than the League it was Team Rocket.

He shivered at his encounter with them. He was so _helpless_. How could the sick bastards do such a thing to a six year old boy.

Snarling once again he though 'that was two years ago, right now you need to focus on your problem'. That got him in jump shift.

He risked a peek over his shoulder and saw the thing was gaining. He mentally panicked. Usually he got a way by now. He _would _not be helpless again. Not now, not later, not ever.

With new found determination, a boost of adrenaline shot through him. He felt like he could lift a mountain. He focused everything into his speed and ran faster, and faster.

He let loose a slight crazed laugh at the feeling of the wind whipping his hair and battering his face. He felt invincible.

First mistake. Overconfidence.

As he was relishing in the feelings. He lost some of his proficient concentration. And as a result he tripped over one of the many jutting roots of a tree.

Not even feeling the pain he scurried to his feet, but it was too late. The damage had been done.

The raticate sensing victory when his prey fell cried out in victory and with new found bloodlust and triumph let loose its fastest sprint yet. Now standing just a few feet away from the boy it stared at him. Daring him to make a move.

The boy huffed. His mistake led to his fall. His fall led to his defeat. His defeat led him to the mercy of the predator.

He would not give it the satisfaction of feeling helpless. He would look death in the eyes and laugh.

And laugh he did. It was certain this time, one could definitely hear a slight crazed tone in it.

This enraged the raticate. _His_ prey who he caught was laughing in his face. With a feral snarl it prepared to lunge at the defenceless boy's throat.

"Nidorino double kick!" another boy hollered.

The next thing the raticate new he was wheezing on the ground. Direct impact.

"Again!" the same boy called this time sounding closer.

The raticate was reduced to an unconscious heap. The nidorino nudged it with his horn, checking to make sure it was out before trotting back to his master.

The boy with raven black hair turned to see his saviour. He was a good couple inches taller than him, probably a new trainer. He had brown hair that he obviously spent a lot of attention combing and gelling. He had brown eyes as he grinned in satisfaction at fallen raticate. He lazily tossed a pokeball. There was no struggle - the raticate was knocked out cold.

The boy who caught the raticate then turned his head to the small boy with raven hair. 'Probably a couple years younger than me' he thought to himself.

"Not that I care, but what are you doing out here in the middle of a forest." he drawled out in a bored tone not really paying attention.

"Great my saviour is an A-class jerk' the small boy thought to himself.

He huffed before replying "I was gathering some food when that freak snuck up on me and chased me down. I tripped and you got here just in time".

The brown haired boy smirked and said with an impossibly high amount of pride in his voice "Names Damien kid. I'm going to be the strongest trainer in the world. Well storms coming in soon, and I do not want to get my hair wet, so see ya shrimp!".

He started to jog in the direction of the pokemon centre.

'Wow, that guy brings arrogance to new levels.' he thought to himself. Not that he wanted him to, but he would have thought the kid obviously being his superior - just thinking that left a bad taste in his mouth - would have offered him some help. Just goes to show what a self absorbed jerk he is.

He shrugged it off and headed in the direction the boy came from. No way in hell was he going back to the League trainer infested centre. Especially if that Damien jerk was there.

But he really did need to find shelter soon, this storm was going to be bad. 'Who crapped in Zapdos's cereal today?" he snickered to himself.

He carefully jogged down the worn path now evident, from many years of trainers taking the same route hoping to find a cave or something of the sorts to take shelter in.

Half an hour or so passed and still nothing. He was getting annoyed now. The wind had slowly started to pick up and he could tell the rain wasn't far behind. He growled in frustration and began to jog slightly faster.

It began off slowly but he swore he could of heard a howling sound of a pokemon. Not taking it seriously he just ignored it kept on his way.

It got distinctively louder. Definitely real. From what he could hear, it was not a howl of challenge, or calling others, it was a howl of pain. Being the curious person he is he decided he would investigate. Maybe there was a shelter there…

They howling got stronger. Something was hurt, that was for certain. Sensing he did not have much time he broke out into a full sprint. The urgency of the situation pushed away his own fatigue and the scrapes and bruises from his previous tussle.

The wind really picked up, and a light drizzle broke out, soon to become a full fledged thunderstorm. He ran through branches of trees with reckless abandon completely ignoring the scratches and cuts he was getting.

This continued for a good ten minutes before the trees broke out into a small clearing. Not knowing what to expect and completely disregarding his own safety the boy broke through the tree line and gasped at what he saw.

At the other end of the small circular like clearing at the foot of a tree laying in the mud a heap was a charmander howling at the sky. Said charmander was bruised and battered, but what worried the boy was the gash in his stomach that seemed distinctively purple.

Thinking back he remembered Damien's nidorino and that razor sharp horn that could pierce with a slight touch oozing purple venom.

"That bastard!" the boy said out loud. It was one thing to batter this poor pokemon with that monster, but to stab it in stomach, poison and let it lay there and die _helplessly _was another thing.

With his outburst the charmander took notice of the small human boy. Said boy slowly approached the dying charmander with his hands raised in a peace gesture.

Upon closer inspection the charmander noticed he had piercing blue eyes. His eyes reminded him something called ice he didn't really grasp the concept of it but the wild seel that spoke of it said it was frozen water. Along the left side of his face he had a large scar. It looked like a cut mark. It ran from just below his ear to his jaw in a crescent shape. He had a raven black hair that blew wildly with the howling wind. The charmander regarded the human curiously. He wasn't to trustworthy yet, but he was in no real position to argue and he couldn't sense any ill intentions from him.

The boy regarded the charmander with worry he was not in good shape. Bruised and battered, but he looked famished and the poisonous hole in his stomach wasn't doing him any favours.

"Ah wait, I got pecha berries!" the boy suddenly cried out. Something good did come out with his run in with the raticate.

Taking his satchel from his shoulder he opened it and quickly sorted through the various compartments until he reached one labelled 'Food' and grimaced. He really needed to restock soon which may or may not involve stealing from the blasted League sponsored pokemart. He reached in and grabbed a hand full of pecha berries.

Next, he sifted through his satchel until he reached the 'Medicine' compartment. He pulled out a small flask of whiskey - which also may or may not have been stolen - and some white bandages to cover the wound.

Kneeling down next to the charmander he grimaced. The rain was really starting to pick up and he knew charmander's tails must be kept lit to stay alive. This one's tail was looking pretty weak to him. Not flickering yet but not good either.

"This might hurt a bit but it's going to fix you right up." he said in his attempt at a soothing calm tone. It must of worked because the charmander nodded turn his head closed his eyes and awaited the treatment with a grimace.

Taking the flask he poured a small amount into the wound, before taking one of the bandages and using it like a rag rubbed it into the wound. Charmander hissed in pain but did not flinch away.

Next he took a few pecha berries and crushed them and mixed it with a bit of whiskey to make a paste of sorts before gently but firmly rubbing it into the charmander's stomach. The wound already looked slightly better the purple losing some of its colour. He then took a couple bandages and rapped them around the wound closing it off.

He tapped the charmander's indicating he was finished. The charmander looked at him with wide eyes as if he never thought it was possible for someone to be kind to him. Just that look made him want to run back to the centre and kick the crap out of Damien. He huffed at that, he _would_ be kicking the crap out of Damien next time he saw him.

Looking back at charmander he move his arm gesturing for him to take the remaining pecha berries in his hand.

"I healed it as best as I could but you should probably eat these. It couldn't hurt either as it looks like you're hungry." he explained.

The charmander sent him a gratefully look before weakly reaching his paw out and taking the berries. He weakly munched on them before swallowing awkwardly. While he was doing that the boy went through his pack and took out a blue blanket.

"I'm going to take you with me, you're in no condition to go off on your own. Plus it would be a complete waste of supplies if I just let you die." he said as an after thought.

He reached down and scooped the charmander up in one of his arms while wrapping a blanket around him in another one. Adjusting his satchel over his shoulder again he set off shielding the charmander from the rain.

It was quite the sight. A small eight year old boy hunched over shielding a charmander wrapped in a blanket from a howling storm.

The boy decided he was not going to find a cave and he should just find an alcove or something like that.

Luck was on his side as a rock formation was not to far away from the clearing. It wasn't the best, but it was somewhat dry offering some protection to the rain. He didn't worry about lightning, there wasn't that big a chance he would get hit, but hey never too safe. The rocks provided a good insulator to cover him.

He took out his sleeping bag, placed charmander in it and climbed in wrapping the charmander in his arms. Fire was not needed as the little fire type provided enough on his own. Only time will tell what happened now.

**Line Break**

Waking up with a yawn the boy stretched out only to find something squirm near his chest. Curiously he looked down bleary eyed to find a charmander. Remembering last nights events the boy immediately jumped out of the bag and observed his surroundings. The storm seemed to be moving towards the Vermillion district. The sun's rays penetrated through the forest's canopy lighting up the area. The storm wasn't to destructive, a tree here or there knocked over and a lot of mud.

Turning his attention back to the charmander who was standing up, looking at him curiously. The boy studied him. Now that he thought about it, their situations were the same in more ways than one. They were both alone with nothing but scars of the past. He clenched his fists and took a deep breath at the onslaught of memories.

He made a decision then and there.

Kneeling down to look the charmander in the eyes he studied them. They were much like his own he noticed. Determination coursed through them in unbound levels. He nodded his approval.

"I know what Damien did to you." he stated. Charmander clenched his fists in silent fury and shame looking down at the ground.

He placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and said in a soft voice " I know how it feels. To be helpless. Look."

He took off his jacket and shirt. Showing the small lizard his bare torso. Charmander looked on in horror at the boy's torso. There were three big slash marks. Up is left arm ran another three slash mark starting from just above his wrist to his shoulder. Then there was the previously mentioned crescent scar on his face.

The boy said after a few moments "you're not the only one who has been hurt, I got these when I was six."

Charmander stared the boy for a few moments before reaching out and tracing one on his torso lightly.

"I guess we have matching scars, eh?" he said with a grim smile.

Charmander looked down at his stomach where the bandage was. He took it off slowly and gasped. Where he was stabbed a thin patch of skin grew over but was significantly darker than the rest. The remains of the toxin were gone but a nasty scar. Charmander traced it lightly.

"Take it lightly for a few days until the skin grows back. I'm no doctor but I can tell you're pretty damn lucky that none of your internal organs were damaged." the boy said.

Charmander nodded looking at the boy. He didn't really know what to do now and he liked the boy.

As charmander was inspecting his scar the boy put his shirt and jacket back on. He would ask the charmander now.

"I'm pretty sure you have no where to go now, so will you come with me? I'm not old enough to be a trainer but I did steal a few pokeballs so you can come with me if you want." he said with a cheeky grin at the end.

Charmander immediately nodded happy to go with a person who liked him.

The boy grinned and said "we'll help each other become strong. If you're anything like me I know you never want to feel helpless ever again." Charmander nodded at this so he continued "I'll train you until you're the strongest charizard. We'll never feel helpless again! We'll even take down team Rocket and the Elite Four and even Lance! We'll show them we're strong! We'll never be helpless ever again!" the boy exclaimed now fist pumping the air at the end of his speech. Charmander was cheering too.

"But it's kind of illegal for me to have you until I'm ten and the stupid League is stronger than us. For now. So we'll train until than. Oh and I kind of steal most of my supplies but now that I have you we can battle some weaker trainers for money, it's not like they'll question us." he explained. Charmander just nodded in agreement not caring at all they could be described as criminals.

"For now we need to get stronger. I think I know just the place. But you need a name. Calling you by your species is wrong in my opinion." he said. Charmander cocked his head. He would in fact like a name.

"It can't be something lame and overused like Blaze or Inferno. It has to unique because we're different than the rest. Our scars show that. No pain no gain" he said in a bitter tone at the end.

So they sat there as the boy thought of a good nickname. He thought back to a book he read that some guy let him have. It told of how when humans were scarce and did not have technology. A particular tribe of people called a red Gyarados Perses meaning the destroyer. He thought it was a fitting name, Gyarados were known to have blind rage and destroy everything in sight.

But it also could fit a charizard. Perses, the destroyer. Yes he did like that fit them perfectly.

"I found one I think you'd like." he said gaining charmander's undivided attention.

"Perses meaning the destroyer. Fits a charizard doesn't it?" he mused.

Charmander thought about it. Thinking he was a charizard fighting massive dragons. Throwing one to the ground, roaring announcing his claim as king of the sky's. Perses. Yes he did like that. Turning back to the boy who still had yet to introduce himself he nodded his head.

"Well than my name is Ash, Ash Ketchum. Nice to meet you Perses" the newly identified Ash said kneeling down to and offering a hand.

Perses looked at it funny but than remembered seeing to humans do the action before and placed his small paw in his hand and shook it. A bond was created than and there.

"We got a long rode ahead of us if were going to get stronger, so let's go!" Ash cheered. He set Perses on his shoulder so he was sitting on it. He wasn't heavy at all. He then began westwards, hopefully to a place where they'd let him train. They were going to stronger even if it hurt them. '_No pain no gain'_ he thought bitterly momentarily clenching his fists at the bad memories.

And so the fabled journey began.

_**I liked writing that, was very enjoyable. **_

_**So an eight year old Ash Ketchum heads off to where? And why is with no parents? Why does he hate the League so much and what happened with Team Rocket? Just some things to think about. **_

_**Perses is my red Gyarados in Soulsilver, in Greek mythology it is a titan of destruction and was often referred to as Perses the destroyer. It seemed like a good name for a charizard when charmander evolves into one.**_

_**Anyways please do Review and Rate.**_


	2. The Apprentice

_**Hey guys, my exams are done and I finished fairly well I think. So I'll be updating this and my other story a lot more, probably. I got some suggestions for pokemon names, and what Ash should catch. I'm strictly trying to stay within Kanto and Johto pokemon. He will only catch one pokemon outside of those regions. He'll get it this chapter. And nickname suggestions are always welcome, but try not do all greek/roman myths. **_

_**By the way whoever came up with Atlas for a Rhyperior, I think it was guest that's actually such a perfect name for one. I might use that for another trainer in the future.**_

_**Well here it is my second update. Thanks for all the reviews and follows. **_

The Apprentice

"Poliwag swamp that lizard with bubble!" cried a young trainer. He was the typical new rookie. Hat turned backwards, t shirt and shorts. Labelled to the public as 'youngsters' at bottom of the trainer pyramid.

Ash automatically hated them. They were weak, arrogant and pompous bastards. Plus they were League trainers which also wasn't doing any favours for them.

"Perses take it than use rage" Ash ordered calmly. It has been a good two weeks since the encounter with his loyal charmander. They worked through some of the basics finding that charmander was a tank in battle. After the fight with that monster of a nidorino he decided to train to ignore pain. Which led to his aggressive tactics.

Ash didn't have pokedex, so they had to work together to figure out his moves. So far he knew scratch, ember, leer and smokescreen. Since then he gained the personalities of his trainer. When alone with Ash they were friendly and cheerful. To anyone else he was cold and angry just like Ash. Finally in battle he was aggressive and wasn't lenient on cocky trainers and pokemon. For their mistakes he would punish them.

From his aggressiveness in battle he learned roar a good move for scaring off wild pokemon and intimidating other trainers pokemon. The other one was rage both of their personal favourites. The opponent's attack would hit and they would think they scored only to be struck with an even more powerful attack. Letting your guard down meant defeat. And every time Perses took an attack his rage only got stronger.

Of course there was the caution of actually taking the attack, but like mentioned before charmander's will overcame the majority of the pain.

Charmander dug his claws into the ground and braced for the onrushing bubbles heading at a high speed. They smashed into him and pushed him back slightly before charmander's eyes turned a furious red and the water began to evaporate. His tail spiked up a good inch in fire. The adrenaline from using rage was intense.

The youngster's eyes widened at the feral appearing charmander rushing at his poliwag with murderous expression on his face.

"Dodge" he yelled out panicking.

Poliwag made to dive out of the way but it was a folly. The oncoming charmander smashed poliwag backwards. It went fly back, and before it even hit Perses was rushing at it. As the poliwag fell Perses dove into the air and speared it into the ground. The once standing poliwag was now reduced to unconscious heap. It would need a very good heal and probably wouldn't be battling for a week or two.

Perses strode over to Ash's side receiving a pat on the head.

"Good job, your progress is great." Ash praised with a small smile.

Perses nuzzled Ash's stomach, causing him to laugh. The kid they just fought strode over to them with a sour expression on his face, not believing he was just go stomped so easily. He had a hand clenched with a few bills in it, slightly shaking from an unknown emotion. Frustration? Anger? Fear? Ash couldn't care a single bit. He was underestimated by his appearance and as consequence, his foe who lost. Painfully, he would add.

The trainer got with in arms length and thrust his arm out with the money. Ash greedily swiped all the bills up doing a quick count of 87 bucks. Not too bad coming from a kid.

The trainer studied him for a minute before coming to a conclusion. He stepped back and looked at the ground in - embarrassment?

"Err, I may have underestimated you just a tad bit kid. You're actually pretty darn good if I do say so myself. Phil's gonna be resting up for a long while." he muttered still looking at the ground.

Ash raised an eyebrow. While it wasn't the best apology, it was the first he's gotten and it did sound sincere enough. Better than the majority cocky idiots out there.

"Thanks…?" he trailed off.

"Jake, call me Jake." he said knowing his unsaid question.

"I'm Ash, nice to meet you" he greeted while sticking out his hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Ash." he replied grasping his hand and giving it a firm shake.

"So where you heading Ash?"

Ash hesitated for a moment deciding whether or not to tell him. He settled with the partial truth it couldn't hurt.

"Saffron" he said simply.

"Really? That's a bit odd, nothing there but Sabrina and while you're pretty she'd probably flick her wrist and send that monster of a charmander to the center for a good while. But now I'm getting nosy. I'm heading to rock tunnel to see if I can get a some good experience for Phil, and catch a onyx or something."

"Why do you switch between Poliwag and Phil? Ash asked curiously.

"I don't really know he likes Poliwag in battle, and Phil outside. Guess I picked up on his habits. Strange guy." he explained.

"Hmm, yeah kind of is. Well I'm going to head off. Thanks for not being a cocky idiot like every trainer I've battled so far." he said surprisingly sincere for such a closed off person.

"Heheh, you know I did actually though like that when I started off, then I battled Surge and got utterly destroyed. Taught me some respect. Well, one day we'll battle again and I won't make the same mistakes twice. See yah'round!" he said while walking away.

"Bye!" Ash shouted back, Perses waved. His trainer liked him, and he liked him too. He wasn't too bad for a human.

"Well Perses, let's go. I want to get to Saffron within the next week and a half. We got a tonne of money from you thrashing these cocky newbies, and we got to restock on some supplies. I won't even have to steal this time!" Ash said excitedly. While he didn't really care whether he stole from the League or not, it was nice to actually have money.

"Maybe we can work on metal claw for you're next move. A lot of people use rock types and while you're strong you don't have anything to break rock. It's good for defence too." he suggested. Perses nodded, he would always strive to gain strength and knowledge.

A good two hours later they finally broke onto flat ground. Before they were navigating through a rather annoying plane filled with a ridiculous number of hills. Now they were on flat planes, with a lot more trees than a normal savannah. Not that he was complaining. Anything at this point was better than never ending hills.

As he was breaking through a small clearing of trees and spotted a boy about ten or eleven, so a new trainer. What was different however, what he was wearing. A pair of _polished_ dress shoes, black dress pants and a blue _dress shirt_ who the hell in their right mind wears that out so far away from civilization? Was he begging to get mugged? Seriously this kid was a complete utter moron who appeared to love flaunting his money.

Ash could only guess he was from the upper class part of Saffron, coming out to battle or find some pokemon. Normally, the spoiled brats from Saffron just went to the outskirts of the city. That is if they left the city at all. Usually they just bought their pokemon or shipped them in from different regions. Ash hated these trainers more than most. They didn't lift a single finger for anything.

As he was musing the kid seemed see him and smirked see him and Perses, most likely assume they were easy pickings for him. Ash didn't bother hiding his sigh, he was tired of idiots. Perses just growled. He wanted a real fight, and after traveling with his trainer for two weeks, he could practically smell out strength in trainers. And staring at this overly dressed blond haired boy with sky blue eyes he was not impressed the slightest.

He approached within speaking range and studied Ash his smirk only growing.

From his point of view the kid was small, smaller than any other trainer he had seen. He was idly wondering whether or not he was even qualified to have trainers license. An easy win for him. His arrogance restored, he had just replaced a new pokemon he asked his dad to ship him. It was a total scandal though. They shipped the first evolution of it instead. He then realized that what he ordered was extremely rare, and no one had any in stock. They sent the first evolution also being extremely rare. He was happy to own that and thought that it would be strong and easy to evolve.

He was wrong.

It hadn't won a single battle, was ridiculously hard to train. The only good thing it did was help him catch his two new pokemon, a machop, and a doduo. He then released it into a lake and crushed the pokeball without a single care. 'Waste of good money' he thought. It didn't matter though, his dad was owned the pokemart branch in Saffron.

Coming out of his thoughts he stared at the kid. He was really small and young, clearly younger than him.

"Are you even prohibited to have a trainer's license little boy?" he asked.

Ash visibly bristled at being called a little boy. No matter how many idiots he came across it still aggravated him to no end every time they commented on his age.

"You're one to talk about age, and it's none of your damn business what I can and can't do brat." he sneered at the arrogant fool.

The boy had a look of pure rage on his face. Who was this imbecile to insult him?

"I here by challenge you to a pokemon battle, though I wouldn't even be slightly surprised if an imbecile like you cowered out like the weak person you are. Your meagre abilities can hope to challenge my righteous and noble pokemon." he declared.

Ash mentally face palmed. He forgot these idiots vocabulary consisted of words no one has used in a good thirty years. Just another damn reason to hate them. '_Literates_' he mentally snarled.

"I don't know who taught you to talk but we live in the present not thirty freaking years ago old man. I accept your challenge, but make it quick I want to get as far away from an arrogant idiot like you as soon as possible." he snarled. Perses shot him a death glare. Which the kid visibly cowered back from. Perses gave a smirk at his reaction.

"Wait!" he squeaked. Ash sighed and turned his glare to the boy and waited impatiently.

"What?" he snapped back.

"You cannot do a battle without learning your foes name! It is simply outrageous! I will introduce myself first I am the proud so of Julius -

"I don't care what you're name is or whoever the hell your father is who spoils you. I just want to get this freaking battle over with so I can get the hell away from you." he snarled.

The rich boy was red in the face now, and with quick paces strode purposely back to his side of the clearing.

"Machop, show these fools your strength!" he yelled throwing a pokeball.

A short blue figure emerged. It stood about the height of Perses. He had what looked like three brown talons stuck to his head which Ash assumed was actually very hard and acted like a helmet. Red eyes studied him dismissively, like he wasn't worth his time. It appears the machop inherited his trainer's arrogance.

Ash just looked down at Perses who was scowling at the machop.

"Beat it to pulp" he ordered simply. Ash didn't even think he needed to give Perses orders to defeat this idiot.

"Focus punch!" the boy ordered.

Ash was somewhat surprised. The boy had obviously used TM's on the machop, there was no way that runt could learn it on his own. He scowled at that. Maybe, just maybe if he trained his pokemon they would actually do something useful.

The machop started focusing on its fist which began to glow white. Focus punch needed time to be used though. The opponent needed to be slow, paralyzed, asleep or something like that. Perses was fresh out and not giving it the chance to hit it with such a strong attack.

He dived at the machop with reckless abandon at immediately threw him off focus. The glowing fist died down as Perses started ruthlessly punch and scratching the machop.

"Throw him off, vital throw!" the rich boy called panicking.

Ash just watched on. He wasn't worried at all. This was also good experience for Perses to act on his own intuition not just order to order.

Machop's arms glowed white, as this was a lower level fighting move. He was probably born knowing it and threw Perses a good ten feet away.

The charmander slammed into the ground but immediately jump to it's feet snarling. He started to emit a red aura and Ash knew he was using rage. Perses eyes grew more feral and narrowed so they appeared as slits. He was a lizard after all.

Ash wanted to try something new so called out "focus it into your claws!".

Perses gave no notice to hearing the order except for his claws glowing red as he ran at the machop now staggering to his feet.

"Watch out machop, use tackle!" the rich boy nearly screamed. There was just something about a charmander with a killer red aura around it charging at you with claws drawn that made you panic. Note the sarcasm.

Machop's eyes widened at the oncoming lizard and drew into a crouch preparing to meet the charge. As Perses lunged so did machop.

They slammed into each other, but Perses momentum had much more strength than the hastily prepared machop so they flew back into the rich boy's direction.

Machop being a natural born fighting race landed on top and started sending slugs left in right at Perses, who totally disregarded them and struggled to throw the opponent off.

Perses let lose a roar which momentarily startled the attacking machop. The charmander took the advantage and threw it off before channelling even more rage into his claws. You could literally see sparks and small flames flicker off. Rage powered him even more.

He lunged at the kneeling machop and sent is wicked claws into his rib cage. The fire from them grew and it looked like he was holding fireballs. Machop flew back a good 15 feet and was bleeding.

Ash and the rich boy looked on in shock. Both for different reasons.

Ash was giddy with excitement. His charmander just used a freaking dragon claw! Was that even possible? He thought that by channelling energy into the claws he would use metal claw or crush claw or something like that. But dragon claw!? Mind blown.

"Perses that was freaking badass! You just used dragon claw! A charmander. Using dragon claw! Damn!" Ash exclaimed. Perses roared in triumph at his success. He was one step closer to being a true dragon.

The rich boy stared at his machop in shock. He Richard Smith, a proud son of Julian Smith defeated by this…. this treacherous mongrel. This kid must have committed treachery of some kind. He would not let this pathetic excuse of a being get the last laugh.

Wordlessly he returned his machop, he didn't blame him, the kid clearly cheated somehow. There is no way he could believe someone of his calibre. The kid was younger than him and he just got his license a good three months ago.

He threw his other pokeball releasing a two headed bird standing on two legs. It had brown fur and perfect spheres for head. Each face was identical, beak eyes and all. No wings came from its back. It was a doduo.

Ash noticed this and shouted "We already won, what are you doing!?"

The rich boy just sneered back "You must have committed treachery of some sort!"

"Damn literates and their 'treachery'" Ash grumbled under his breath. It was so hypocritical. The snob was cheating by sending out another pokemon after calling him a cheater. Idiots these days.

Perses looked annoyed. Here he was celebrating beating another brat and using an extremely powerful move and then the snob goes and has a temper tantrum and throws out a stupid two headed bird that doesn't even have wings. Really now, who the hell in their right mind thinks a two headed bird can beat him.

Ash scowled he really wanted to just collect his prize money he _rightfully_ earned and be on his merry god damned way. But nooo, he has to deal with brat who for the first time ever doesn't have something going his way. Maturity does not come with age it seems.

"Perses roar, follow up by ember at its feet then scratch its chest. Rage if it hits you I want to leave." Ash ordered coldly.

Perses nodded his affirmation and turned back to face the stupid numbskull of a bird.

"Doduo fury attack and then full forced tri attack, don't hold back!" the rich boy barked.

Perses already had his orders and as soon the first orange beam left doduo's beak he let loose a loud, ferocious roar. Doduo jumped startled and dumbly looked around for what made the sound. Causing both trainers to face palm.

"Focus doduo! Tri attack!" the rich boy yelled.

His voice refocused the bird and its beak turned white, as three beams began to form. An ice blue one, a fiery red one and a yellow one that crackled with sparks. An impressive attack. If it was to actually hit. Ash was surprised it knew the move and could actually use it. Tri attack wasn't a TM, and only a certain few pokemon could learn it.

Perses let loose a jet of flames at doduo's feet, causing it to panic and jump and down trying to get rid of the flames. It became unfocused and shot the attack in Ash's direction who immediately dropped onto his stomach cussing like a sailor.

Perses raked his long claws along doduo's chest in an 'X' formation. Doduo in pain and started thrash about on the ground before Perses got annoyed and head butted him. His heads lolled back and forth on the ground. He was out for good.

Perses just stood and looked at the rich boy with a fierce expression on his face as if daring him to do something stupid. Which he probably was.

Said boy paled and returned his pokemon before backing away slowly.

"Where do you think you're going idiot? You know the rules, pay up or are you going to commit 'treachery' you stupid literate?" Ash said in a mocking tone.

The rich boy grit his teeth before throwing a handful of bills in the air and turning and booking it. Ash just smirked and him and Perses picked up the bills. Counting 530 bucks in total he was satisfied.

"Idiot flaunts his money even after being embarrassed, I give him a good two days before he gets the crap kicked out of him and mugged." he said to himself. Perses just snorted smoke coming out of his nostrils.

"Let's go that idiot took enough of our time as it is" he grumbled. Perses nodded in agreement, butted hid lightly on Ash's knee and started to trot forwards.

A few hours later they were near a small lake. Night was closing in and they've travelled a good distance. They decided they'd rest beside the pond for the night as they needed to get a water refill anyways.

As Perses sent a small ember at the logs they gathered for a fire, they heard a sad mooing coming from the pound. Now Ash was no genius but he was pretty sure no water pokemon mooed.

Ash and Perses cautiously approached the lake. They heard the mooing sound again and saw a fish swimming around the shallows of the lake. Upon first inspection Ash would say it was a magikarp. But upon further inspection he realized it was a feebas.

She, as he was pretty sure almost all feebas were female (he never really understood that concept) had pale skin like a dried out mud colour. Darker brown splotches covered all over her body and pale pink lips were in a pout. Three light blue fins covered her body; one on each side and one on top of her head. A blue tail-like fin covered her backside allowing her to steer.

The question was what the hell was a feebas doing all the way out in Kanto, here in the middle of nowhere? Ash knew his pokemon. He spent countless hours reading about them all and from what he understood about feebas, was they were extremely rare in from their native region Hoenn.

A sudden though of how he found charmander abandoned and then that idiot rich boy came to mind. Putting two and two together he groaned out loud catching the attention of the feebas who looked him curiously.

"Moo?" she well, mooed.

"Hey girl" he said surprisingly soft. He hadn't even spoken that soft to Perses when he rescued him.

"Did your trainer leave you?" he asked in the same tone.

The feebas did a little swim around in a circle before looking down at the ground mooing sadly in affirmative.

Ash clenched his fists in anger. He mentally added another person to beat-to-the-inch-of-life-list. It slowly, but surely growing.

He looked at the distraught feebas and asked "you want to come with me? I know you're last trainer abandoned you, but I'll never do that. I'll help you evolve. Personally, milotic is one of my favourite pokemon. All you really need is love and reassurance."

Feebas looked up curiously and cocked her head to the side, she wanted to evolve and the kid seemed nice enough.

Ash continued on his rant/speech "I found Perses here dying. He was also left by his trainer. But unlike you he was dying when I found him. I rescued him, and were going to get stronger so we don't need anyone else's help ever again!"

Feebas also wanted to become stronger. She remember before she was captured and shipped away from her home always being bullied and tossed around by the swarm of goldeen and quilfish. She would go with this boy. He looked younger than her last trainer, and had a scar on his face. It's not like she had any better options, and the he seemed very genuine and compassionate during his speech. She swam up to the shore and flopped, yes flopped over to Ash and nuzzled his leg. And Perses stomach. Ash ran a hand lightly along the fin on her head while Perses poked her curiously.

"Moo!" she said affirmatively. Ash smiled and Perses snorted.

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you I'm kind of not allowed to have you for another two years but we're going to a place where we can train without the whole League throwing a fit and taking you into custody because I'm not fit to take care of you. Jerks." he grumbled.

"So, you sure about this?"

Again, it's not like feebas had anything better to do. Crime always did make things more interesting she mused.

She just nuzzled Ash's leg again and he smiled. He dug around in his satchel and pulled out a pokeball and held it out to feebas's head. She leaned forward and tapped the capsule in the middle. The ball shook three times with no resistance. Ash then released her into back into the shallows of the lake.

"You want a nickname girl?" Ash asked feebas.

Feebas mooed happily so he just took it for a yes. He sat down and took his shoes and socks off, rolled up his pants waded into the lake. Feebas idly swam around him as he though.

Eventually Perses gingerly stepped into the water. He grumbled about it but stayed in the very end.

Ash wanted a name that suited a milotic, not just any water pokemon. So it couldn't be anything common like Aqua or Wave or along that jiff.

Thinking about his mind rambled back to some tale he read about how ships would get led astray by the voice of a milotic. They claimed it was the most beautiful thing they've ever heard calling it the Siren's song or something along the lines of that. Ash didn't know about the voice, but he did know milotics tended to be very beautiful.

He then remembered the tale of the twin serpents, how milotic is the opposite of gyarados. How gyarados was always angry and milotic would always calm him down with her voice. They could be considered twins he mused to himself.

He settled on Siren, it was a good name in his opinion.

"How bout Siren?" he asked.

Since no one had said anything in awhile both pokemon were surprised when he spoke up. Perses nearly tripped, while feebas slightly jumped out of the water.

Feebas mooed and swished her tail happily appearing to like the name, very much.

"Well Siren, I'm going to bed do you want to stay in the lake for the night? In the morning were going to have to set off again and I have to return you to your pokeball." Ash explained.

Siren mooed in happily swimming back into the deeper levels of the lake. Ash and Perses walked back to their little camp site after gathering their belongings. Perses stomped on the nearly dead fire they had forgotten about, effectively putting it out.

Ash curled up in his sleep bag while Perses curled up in a ball on a blanket he'd taken from Ash.

**Line Break**

They'd travelled extensively for a good four days with as minimal amount of sleep as possible. After coming across a small secluded clearing bordering a lake, Ash decided to camp here for the night.

He released Siren into the lake. He didn't really know what to expect. Feebas were like magikarp (A/N is magikarp plural on it's own?) very weak in their first form but ridiculously strong in their second. Feebas however, could learn TM's. He'd have to find someone who sold them. He didn't plan on going to Celadon anytime soon, and he wanted to use Siren before than.

It's move pool was the basic splash, tackle and flail. He didn't have a pokedex so he couldn't tell if she knew any egg moves. He hoped she got something like iron tail or even dragonbreath. That would be awesome. A little fish breathing blue draconic flames. Terrifying.

Siren upon release mooed happily just being out of her pokeball made her happy. She'd been stuck in there for the four days of travel.

"Alright girl can you show me what moves you know?" Ash asked.

Feebas mooed in confirmation. Ash and Perses watch curiously as she started swished her fins and tail back and forth pick up speed as she swam before launching herself into the air. It was an impressive tackle. When she evolved it could even be turned into a giga impact.

Next, she started to shutter and convulse her fins bristling out sharply. It wasn't that impressive as it was more of a last resort move being more effective the more injured the user was.

For the final naturally learned move she just flopped about in the lake slashing everywhere. Splash. The most pointless move in existence. It was more suitable for magikarp because they could eventually go into bounce with it. The only real advantage he could think of was splashed water in the opponent's face which wouldn't do anything.

Ash was pulled out of his musings when Perses tugged his pants getting his attention. He looked down to see the charmander gesturing to Siren.

She was glowing in a pinkish aura and shot yellow rings of energy out of her mouth. Hypnosis!

"Her father must have been a politoad or poliwrath" he mused out loud. The rings dissipated after hitting a rock leaving no damage behind. Ash didn't really understand how hypnosis worked. For some pokemon like hypno, the used their pendulums. For poliwraths they hypnotized their foes with the entrancing spirals on their bellies. For pokemon who fired the rings of energy, a study showed that it acted like a depressant slowing down the nervous system of the pokemon making them drowsy and groggy, or pass out.

Ash's assumption of one of the Poli members being Siren's father was proven wrong when she glowed pink once more and the water around her came to a stand still demonstrating a weak confusion. Her parent must have been a lapras as they had amazing physic abilities.

This was great, he could use Siren in battles now, maybe even on land. While she would definitely better in water, feebas tended to be tough durable fish needing little water to survive. She would do fine on land for a bit, good experience too. Couldn't be going soft just because of a little water.

"Siren, you're amazing! I don't even think you'll need to stay in water to fight. You practice focusing confusion so you can strengthen and extend its hold. When you're done, work on speeding up tackle. I'm going to focus on trying to teach Perses metal claw and see if he can do dragon claw again." Ash ordered. He then gestured for Perses to follow him and led him to a sturdy looking oak tree.

"Alright, try focusing your energy into hardening your claws. I'm pretty sure if you do it right they'll shine a greyish silver and you won't even feel slashing the tree." Ash explained.

Perses nodded and closed his eyes attempting to concentrate. Several tense moments later he growled in frustration and swiped the tree. His claws glowed white deepening the slash marks in the tree.

"Slash?" Ash asked confused. He didn't know that would be the product of this method. It was still better than nothing.

"Perses try it again." Ash ordered.

Perses huffed clearly aggravated before closing his eyes. When he felt composed enough he slash at the tree with the same effect; claws glowing white and making a deep slash mark in the tree. It had to be slash, the grooves were too deep to be from his common scratch attack.

Ash sighed, he wasn't the best person for training. He was eight years old and all the knowledge he had was from long hours of reading books, or using the PC systems in pokemon centres. He would learn more when he went to Saffron city.

"I don't know Perses. I don't even know how you used dragon claw, and until I figure that out I won't tell you to do it. Practice with what you already know. Let's do some speed and endurance." Ash said with a troubled expression.

Ash then use the little rope he had and tied a couple of dense rocks he found to the charmander. Perses began to pull the rocks along with him in a run.

While he did that he went go check on Siren. Upon reaching the lake he saw her practicing tackle. He smiled at her effort. While she one of the weaker pokemon she had great spirit.

He wanted to train her physic abilities. While she could only use confusion and hypnosis now, he was confident she could use a full fledged physic once she evolved.

He called out "hey girl, you're doing great but I want to work on your confusion attack." He thought about it for a moment before picking up a small rock at his feet.

"I'm going to toss this rock at you, and you're going to try to catch it before it hits you. Then if you can toss it back to me. It will be a game." he explained.

Feebas just nodded happily. A cheerful little fish she was.

"Ready?" Ash asked.

"Moo!" was her response.

Ash tossed lightly at Siren who glowed pink before catching it and than lobbing it back at Ash with more force than him. He acted fast and caught it. Siren started what suspiciously sounded like snickering.

"Oh it's on!" Ash declared. He threw the rock with a lot more force than previously. Siren glowed pink and tried to catch it but flew through her efforts and bounced off her head.

She mooed angrily and swished her tail before picking it up and whipping it at Ash who was to busy laughing to react.

It smacked into his ribs, winding him and causing him to stagger over wheeze for air. Siren regretted her action immediately and swam over to him mooing worriedly.

Ash sat up coughed a bit before grumbling "you have one mean throw."

Siren ignored the comment and head butted his leg worriedly. Ash noticed this and gave a small reassuring smile. Her ran a hand over her scales.

"Don't worry, I've taken worse, a lot worse." his face morphed into a dark expression but it was gone as soon as it came. "I guess we got a little too carried away it's okay, don't worry about it. But seriously you have a damn hard throw." he laughed.

Siren just but his leg again before swishing away. And picking the rock up again. See her intentions Ash declined.

"No thanks, I think I'm going to hit the sack now. You can stay out for the night but I have to return you in the morning to keep on moving" he explained.

Siren mooed happily and swam away. Ash sighed and walked back to the campsite. Perses was already asleep, curled up in a ball on a blanket.

He snuggled into his sleep bag seeking it's warmth. He didn't always kept the fire put out when he went to sleep. He was overly cautious. While he trusted Perses, he knew if something were to attack them, they'd get stomped. They were strong but he didn't want to take a chance with wild pokemon.

In Ash's eyes the wild pokemon were stronger than the trainers pokemon he battled. The trainers he fought just caught their pokemon and battled with them and usually lost. They barely trained them if at all. Wild pokemon on the other hand had to survive. Fighting for food, territory. Evading predators. They gained tonnes of experience just from living day to day unlike trainers who just threw them out and demanded a hyper beam or something downright stupid like that.

He sighed and closed his eyes. Perses light snoring steadily put him to sleep.

**Line Break**

Ash could see the outline of Saffron city in the horizon. While he preferred the outdoors, heading to civilization after three long weeks of arduous travel was exciting and relieving. If what he planned to do he could sleep safely indoors, and would have a teacher.

He was walking down a narrow path and it was getting dark. He didn't really care though. He was too close to civilization to care.

Suddenly a dark figure walked out of the shadows blocking the path.

He stood a good six feet tall and had a cruel looking face. Black hair in a buzz cut and dark brown eyes that seemed to assess you as if worth killing you was worth it. A triumphant smirk plastered his face. Easy pickings for him.

Jacked with muscle he looked like he could rip an iron bar in half. Tattoos were visible on his neck. Ash could guess they probably went down his back and arms. He had an ear pierced, and was wearing a black muscle shirt covered by a leather jacket. A chain with a skull on it dangled from his neck. All in all he was exactly who you were told as kid to stay away from. Stranger danger after all.

With that same infuriating smirk still plastered on his face he said in a gruff voice "Hey there kid. You look like one of them new trainers. Care to spare some money for a hard working man like myself?"

Ash kept his face expressionless. On the inside any fear he previously had was replaced with pure fury. This thug was no better than any other Rocket member out there. From the looks of it he was probably in a biker gang. A few of them tainted the Fuchsia, Celadon and Saffron areas. As much as he loathed to admit it Ash couldn't take this guy. But his pokemon could.

Biting down screaming at the man he settled for a monotone voice.

"Hard working man? More like a thug in the shadows waiting to scare kids into giving them their _earned_ winnings. Leave and you won't get scorched by my pokemon."

The thug raised a eyebrow at him and his smirk seemed to grow.

"A feisty one eh? Nice change from those previous whelps. I need to get my bike fixed up and bail a couple boys out of jail. So this is the deal pipsqueak, you give me your money and I don't pummel you to the inch of your life. You don't even look old enough to be a trainer." he said in the same gruff voice, but this time more menacing.

"How bout no?" Ash said smartly. He then threw out Perses ball. He had kept him in there because he didn't want anyone to be suspicious of him while he was in the city.

Perses came out looking confused until he spotted the now confirmed biker gang member. He snarled and unsheathed his claws. Fury was evident in his eyes.

The biker stared at charmander apprehensively before regaining his composure. His smirk grew back and he reached into his jacket before tossing out his own pokeball. A sickening smell greet Ash's nose as a purple ball came out. Poison leaked from it. It had a skull and crossbones on it's chest. Two fangs came out from it's mouth and it's eyes were glazed over. A koffing.

"All biker's carry at least one pokemon, self defence am I right?" he said.

Ash was panicking now. He didn't know the that he had pokemon on him. Now Perses had to deal with the koffing leaving the biker to him.

"Perses don't let the poison touch you, burn it up." Ash ordered with an edge to his voice.

The biker said "koffing do whatever the hell you want. I got the kid." he then stalked menacingly towards Ash who intelligently turned around and booked it.

As he ran he could hear the heavy footsteps of the biker thug and small explosions, probably from fire contacting the gas. He didn't know what to do. The biker would catch up to him eventually.

As if cursing himself, Ash tripped over a jutting rock. The biker then slowed down and loomed over him. He had drawn a knife. Probably from his jacket.

"Well kid, end of the chase. I think I'm going to have to kill you though. I can see it in you. You'll run off to the police and nag them on until they eventually find me. Nothing personal though just business." he said. He then thrust his arm towards Ash's chest.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins, Ash rolled at the last second. The knife still caught his shoulder and easily tore through jacket and shirt as if paper.

He gasped in pain before feebly throwing a punch at the hunched man pulling the knife from the ground.

The punch got lucky and nailed him in the eye. The thug yelled in pain before kicking Ash in the ribs. All the breath was drawn out of him. He clutched his side in pain.

Getting fed up with the resistance the biker wasted no time in going for another stab at him. They both gasped in pain as a bright light illuminated from Ash's satchel - still around him.

The biker staggered back and now in place was Siren mooing angrily at the biker.

"Stupid fish!" the biker roared before kicking Siren. She mooed in pain before using confusion on the thug throwing him into the ground. She immediately passed out afterwards. Not from the kick, but for lifting and moving so heavy and large.

The biker screamed out "I'm getting sick and tired of this bullshit, kid!"

He was on one knee struggling to get up when an orange blur smacked into his chest send him on his back.

Perses was on his chest ripping him apart in pure rage. He had some black patches and his tough skin looked a little raw probably from koffing blowing up, but over all he looked fine.

The man screamed in pain and started thrashing. He flailed his arms and swatted Perses aside and tried to scramble to his feet again.

Perses roared in fury before crouching on all fours and lunging at the thug's exposed throat.

Ash watched in horror as Perses tore his throat out. Blood poured out everywhere dripping down the body and pooling into a puddle.

Perses panted heavily before going over to Ash who still on the ground holding his side.

He nudged Ash's leg looking at him worriedly. Ash managed to gasp out "Get Siren." Perses looked reluctant to leave his friend's side but did so anyways.

Sitting up slowly, Ash gasped in pain. He looked at his shoulder which was still bleeding. With shaking hands he reached into his satchel and pulled out his alcohol flask and a couple bandages. Opening the flask he poured the contents on his wound. He hissed in pain but sucked it up long enough to bandage it. It wouldn't hold for long, but hopefully long enough to get to where he wanted to go. He looked down at his stomach. He didn't think any ribs were broken but he knew he had a couple of nasty bruises.

Perses came back cradling Siren to his chest. She was still unconscious but looked no worse for wear. Probably a couple of bruises here and there but nothing life endangering.

He returned her to her pokeball silently thanking her for saving his life. He would be dead without both his pokemon. He grimaced at the thought.

Looking at Perses he suddenly pulled the startled lizard into a hug softly murmuring "thank you". Perses just hugged his friend back. In his logic it wasn't bad to kill. In his previous pack you fought to defend, eat, and protect. But looking at Ash he knew this was hard for him.

After a few silent moments Ash let go. He stood shakily before walking over to the dead biker. The sight was gruesome. Blood was everywhere leaking into puddles. Chunks of flesh were thrown about by Perses vicious claws. And his throat was to messed up to even describe.

Ash was no stranger to death. He saw his mother murdered in front of him the day he received his scars. But this was the first time he killed someone. He was the commander of his pokemon. He could have ordered them to stop but he didn't. He didn't regret Perses killing him. The scumbag was picking on young weak trainers for who knows how long? How many did he kill?

While Ash broke the law many times. His many acts of theft were proof of this he was no murderer. He was eight for crying out loud! Just staring at body made bile rise to his throat. It was too much. He threw up the contents of stomach onto the ground before staggering away and collapsing. His breathing was ragged and heavy.

Perses walked up to him with worried eyes. Ash just closed his eyes before taking deep breaths.

"I… I - just give me a sec" Ash breathed out. Perses just sat down beside his friend's head, waiting for him to recover.

Minutes passed before Ash groggily sat up. He came to a conclusion. He was no murderer. But that wouldn't stop him from defending himself. If someone tried to stab him, he'd stab them first. It may have not been the best way. He may have pissed off a few pacifists, but who the hell was going to stop him? The bloke just tried to kill an eight year old with no regrets. The world was a dark place, he knew that already. His scars proved that. But he never really thought of outside Rockets people would stoop so low.

This conclusion strengthen his resolve. He and his pokemon learned to fight back.

**Line Break**

In the famous gym of Saffron city home to the powerful psychics and their apprentices sat one of the most powerful physics in the world, if not the most.

Sabrina Natsume was her name, sitting cross legged in her private training room. It was rather simple. A white marble floor with in the middle which she sat. Equipment such as weights for lifting, a mirror for scrying, basically anything that a psychic can use to improve. Deep purple walls enclosed the room. She always did like this shade of purple. Maybe it as because it was the shade of her eyes. Maybe because it was her aura when she used her psychic abilities, she never really tried to figure out the answer.

She was doing her final exercise before she went to sleep; meditation. She meditated when she woke up and before she went to sleep. It helped clear her mind and practise her seeing abilities. Pushing out her senses, she looked for any problems or people with ill intentions. She was a skilled empathic being able to sense emotions very well. It was part of her job to as gym leader to protect the city. All psychics in her gym focused on different parts of the city maintaining a watch. Saffron was such a big city that they placed the psychic gym here. In Celadon they had the main police force stationed. While her students and partners looked at the city in individual parts she looked at it as a whole.

She didn't really specify in a specific type of being a psychic. People just pegged anyone that could do unnatural things as a 'psychic'. It was a little more complicated than that. People who could see into the future were known as 'scryers', people who could feel emotions were an 'empathic' and so on. She was skilled in all types of being a psychic.

So here she was meditating before bed, when suddenly an immense pain rattled through her head. Burning emotions she felt. _Anger. Pain. Sorrow. Hatred._ They were so strong she couldn't read the person's mind to know what their problem was or their intentions. This was a great feat. To block her out of your mind required learning how to block your mind off mentally, which didn't matter anyways since she was above all. It has happened a few times. When one's emotions are so strong that's all you can feel from them.

She sighed. She could only sense a single individual and a pokemon, who's emotions were just as strong as the human's. But as her job as gym leader she would have to investigate. She'd make it quick. Maybe it was one of those stupid biker members that have slowly been getting picked off one by one. Or even worse a Rocket.

Standing up in a single fluid motion she teleported to where the individual was.

For one of the few times in her life Sabrina Natsume was surprised.

Standing before her now wide eyed was a boy who looked to be around eight to ten with a small but fierce looking charmander at his side. The boy was injured, with a white bandage on his shoulder slowly bleeding through and his left hand clutched is stomach. The charmander and black smudges over him and his skin looked raw in places.

Composing herself quickly she asked a question.

"Well?"

**Line Break**

Ash spent the next couple hours right at the outskirts of the city. He didn't feel composed enough to be near so many people after the… incident.

So he and Perses whom Ash kept out because he was in no state to walk alone consequences or not and Perses refused to leave his friend alone in case of new danger.

He looked up at the moon. Guessing it was around midnight the boy slowly made his way into the city. The few people still out at this time of night Ash avoided by keeping to the shadows, which was kind of pointless when you had a lizard with a flaming tail following you. But people left him alone.

Ash approached the final street if memory served correctly to where he wanted to go. The Fighting Dojo. It was perfect. They could teach him and his pokemon to fight and as a bonus the League didn't have any say in what they did as long as it was legal. True it once was the proud gym of saffron but that was years ago. After Sabrina swept them all the League left them like a fish out of water. That's the good old League for you.

But Ash forgot about something he just mentioned. The psychics. He knew they watched over the city mentally and while he wasn't that nervous they may just find a boy with a charmander walking alone in the middle of the night worthy to investigate. He just hoped they were asleep.

Making his way down the middle of street with no one there, only challengers tended to go near the gym, he tried to pass as quickly as possible that was until a girl appeared right in front of them.

"_Really? That's a bit odd, nothing there but Sabrina" _the memory of his talk with Jake rang through his mind. He groaned internally. He then studied Sabrina.

She was rather pretty the eight year old had to admit. She had long flowing black hair that went to her waist, fair skin and startling deep purple eyes with a slender body. She appeared to be about twenty if Ash had to guess and had a calming aura around her made you want to close your eyes and relax. Ash shook his head. She worked for the League which automatically made him take a dislike to her.

"Well?" she asked in an impatient but curious tone too.

It took Ash a moment to find his voice it was hoarse from before.

"Well what?" he asked in an annoyed tone.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well what is a boy, who is illegally holding two pokemon, looking homeless and got attacked by a bear doing walking down the road at midnight?" she asked with an edge to her voice.

Ash's face paled a bit. She pegged him illegally holding pokemon already. But she didn't make a move to do anything. And what was that she was asking him what was he doing? Can't she read minds?

"Can't you just read my mind or something abusive like that?" he voiced his question out loud.

Sabrina had an irritated expression on her face when she answered.

"No your emotions are too strong and block me out. I count on my fingers how many people have done that. Which makes me curious as to what as you like that." she said.

"None of your damned business." Ash snapped back making to walk past her.

Suddenly he was stopped and stuck in place unable to move anything. Except head. He scowled. Perses let out a growl but was then shut up with a wave of Sabrina's hand.

"I said I couldn't read your mind, not use my other powers on you. I can wait all night if I have too. So be a good boy and answer my questions. First why do you illegally have two pokemon?" she asked.

Ash grit his teeth. He knew she wasn't kidding when she said she could hold them there all night. He decided to answer her questions, until he could think of something better to do. It's not like the first one was hard.

"I rescued them" he said simply.

"From what?" she countered.

"Abusive trainers." he retaliated.

Sabrina scowled at this, she knew all about abusive trainers. The majority of the upper class people in the city just bought their pokemon. Usually a gym is supposed to provide their pokemon, but people didn't like actually having to train so they just bought pokemon.

"I'm not even going to ask where you got the pokeballs for that, I distinctively remember a few months ago a boy who looked exactly like you shoplifting." she said casually as if not talking about committing crimes but talking about the weather.

"I do what I must, and I only steal from the League." Ash said in his defence. That didn't stop the cheeky grin from appearing on his face.

Sabrina was not amused. She had half the mind to take him in right now, eight years old or not. She decided to continue on with her interrogation.

"Why are your injuries so severe?" she asked. It was very common for trainers to get minor injures on the road. But the boy looked like he took a brutal beating.

Ash's expression immediately darkened. His eyes took a darker shade of blue and his charmander narrowed his eyes in anger.

Sabrina studied their expressions and was about question further. Suddenly his emotions went from angry and irritated to confusion and grief. The emotion spike surprised her so much she momentarily lost confusion on the boy and he fell on his back side hard.

He brought his knees to his chest and started to cry. He supposed he had to cry at some point. It didn't happen before because he was still confused and in shock before. But now with this woman standing before him practically forcing him to relive the memories that happened mere hours before he cried. It just wasn't because of that incident. That was just the tipping point. He was homeless criminal with no parents for two years who just committed murder. It was built up emotions he tried to get rid of.

Sabrina stared at the kid. She didn't think her words would have that affect on him. Then again she didn't expect a lot of things from this boy. She cursed not being able to read his mind, it would be so much easier.

She sighed it didn't look like he would be stopping anytime soon. She did feel bad for him, he was just a kid after all. She slowly walked up to him up to his feet. He tried to resist at first, but he then allowed her to pick him up and put his head on her shoulder. She cradled him back and forth trying to calm him down. Perses just watched on still stuck in place.

"Shh.. It's okay, it's over now." she murmured soothing nothings to him.

A few minute later he stopped shaking. He still kept his head buried in the crook of her neck though. Sabrina tried to lower him but he stopped her.

"Don't. Please. I like this. It feels… safe?" he sounded like he was asking himself.

Sabrina re-evaluated him. Just the sound of his timid broken voice made her rethink if he really was as bad as he looked. But she complied to his request and kept rocking back and forth.

Ash suddenly let loose a little laugh. "Look at me I'm crying to some strange lady I've just met and she threatened me." Sabrina's lips twitched upwards. It was somewhat humorous if you thought about it in that context.

"Why are you injured?" she asked gently this time.

Ash squeezed his eyes shut. "A biker gang member trying to mug me… I refused and he tried to kill me. He stabbed me and kicked me really hard in the stomach. Siren saved me when he was about to get me good. He kicked her but she threw him to the ground. Perses killed his koffing and then killed him. I'm a murderer at the age of eight and I don't regret what Perses did." he whispered.

Sabrina didn't react she just kept cradling him. She didn't blame him it was an act of self defence. She then grew angry. _'What kind of sick person tries to kill an eight year old'_ she was sickened at the thought. She wasn't even upset when he said he didn't regret it. There wasn't anything to regret. He was attacked and defended himself. It's not like he purposely murdered him.

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone. They'll just pin it off as a wild pokemon attack." she reassured him.

"Really?" Ash asked surprised.

He could feel her nod in reply. "Yes, I don't know your reasons for hating the league, but I can understand why one for disliking it. I wouldn't put it past them to pin murder on an eight year old." she explained.

"So what now?" Ash asked.

"I honestly don't know. Why did you come to Saffron?" she replied with a question of her own.

"My pokemon and I wanted to learn how to fight, so we were going to the Fighting Dojo in hopes that Karate Master Kiyo would take me as an apprentice." Ash murmured.

Sabrina's nose scrunched up at the mention of Kiyo. They had different… opinions for each other. But it wasn't a bad idea, you had to be able to defend yourself somehow. Hardly anyone had psychic abilities. Wait! Maybe he she could teach him a few things. At the least he had an empathy ability however small it maybe. His strong emotions testified to that.

"That's not a bad idea. I could also help if you wanted. I haven't had a student in a while as my former students are teaching now. You most likely have a psychic ability of some sort. I could help you strengthen and you can still train with the buffoon, oh sorry I mean Kiyo." she said with a smirk.

Ash's eyes widened. Him train with Sabrina? That would be awesome. He then said "I'd like that… Maybe not all the League members are as bad as I thought. I still hate them. But I actually like you."

Sabrina just rolled her eyes. "I'm so touched at your praise." she mocked.

Ash let out a little laugh. "Umm.. I don't have anywhere to go… I was hoping to go to the Dojo, but everyone must be asleep by now. Can I…" he trailed off hopefully.

Sabrina was already thinking about it. She knew he was homeless by the condition of his clothes and his age. No parent would let there eight year old go wandering in the middle of the night.

"Yes, care to tell me why you're homeless?" she asked.

Ash looked miserable. He'd already cried, he wasn't planning on doing it again. He sucked it up.

"I don't like to talk about it, but I guess I at least owe you an explanation. Can we talk somewhere else though? It's cold and I want to go inside." he said.

Sabrina just nodded and head to the best described as elegant building that was her gym. She didn't teleport because she knew he'd get really nauseous. First time teleporting was already like that.

She slipped through the double doors. Most people were in bed but those who weren't just looked at her curiously. The occasional one raising an eyebrow. Nobody questioned Sabrina as to why she was carrying a random eight year old they've never seen before.

She swept through the rooms, stopping at one to grab a first aid kit. He didn't dress his wound properly. It needed to e treated properly or risk infection. She walked into her room and shut and locked the door behind her. She didn't think he wanted to sleep in a spare room alone, or one with the initiates.

Forgetting she left the charmander frozen in place she cursed herself. Grabbing the pokeball that belonged to him, she set Ash down on her bed and teleported back on to the road.

Sure enough Perses was there looking frustrated and angry. She walked up to him and he growled.

"Sorry about that, I had to take care of your friend." she started to explain before he growled.

"Don't worry, he's fine. I'm going to treat his injuries now, I have to return you to your pokeball." she said soothingly. Perses sensed she was sincere and just gave a soft growl. Before being hit by a red light returning him to his pokeball.

Sabrina sighed before teleporting back to her room. Ash was sitting on the edge of her bed fidgeting with the strap of satchel. The bandage covering his shoulder was sickly shade of red.

"Take your shirt off." she ordered with a no nonsense tone.

Ash looked up and hesitated for moment before sighing in defeat and removing his jacket and shirt. Sabrina stifled a gasp at the scars running up his arm and torso. She walked over and lightly traced a finger over each one.

"Who did this?" she asked furiously. She had seen the scar on his face but thought nothing of it. While a scar clearly from a knife blade was odd on an eight year olds face she had seen worse sights. But this many scars? They weren't new either so someone must have hurt him when he was younger.

"Team Rocket. An executive. Proton." he said name with pure hate.

Sabrina nodded and began to remove the bandages. The wound was bad but not infected. She opened the first aid kit and poured some rubbing alcohol on to a pad. Without warning she started to clean the wound. Ash winced but that was it.

Eventually Sabrina asked "how?"

Ash took a shaky breath before delving back into his memories.

_He was just a six year old boy. He didn't understand what was happening other than bad people were coming. His mom and him lived in a small house in some place called Pallet town. They never stayed in one place too long. Mom said they had to move, if they stayed too long they'd find them. She said she took something from them that they wanted and would not stop chasing them until they got it._

_When Ash would ask what it was she had a small smile. "Information" she would say. When prodded further she would say that she once worked for a bad group of people. She did research for a project before learning their true intentions and left taking her work with her. _

_Ash asked what she did with the information. "Burned it" she said with grin. "Then mom why are they still chasing us?" he whined._

_His mother laughed softly "My boy, the world is filled with cruel people. Greed and power is what people will do almost anything for. If they catch us and find that I don't have it they won't be happy at all." _

_Line Break in Memory_

_Delia Ketchum and her little boy, Ash Ketchum ran through the woods just outside Pallet town. Delia had made a mistake. She hadn't thought that their operation were so close, or that__ he__ was there. True Pallet town was a secluded peaceful place. But that didn't mean anything to team Rocket. They had eyes and ears everywhere. It was only a matter of time._

"_Mommy, I - I can't run anymore" Ash panted. _

_Delia picked her boy up and kept on running. The yapping of houndooms behind them confirmed that they were gaining. She began to tire. She had no where to run buy she had to get Ash to safety. Viridian wasn't too far away. But it was a deathtrap to go there. It was run by Rockets. It was better than nothing._

_Just then a houndoom leaped out in front of them slamming into Delia, sending her and Ash flying. Proton walked out from behind a couple of densely packed trees. Tossing a wicked crescent silver alloyed blade from hand to hand. _

"_Well, well, well. If it isn't the little bitch and her bastard of a son." he mocked. _

_Delia looked at him with pure fury in her eyes. "What do you want Proton?" she sneered the last part._

"_Oh you know, the results of the tests, all your notes and information. Which I have now learned is not in your possession. So I guess I'll finish up some loose ends instead" he said in a sickening cheerful voice. He took a menacing step forward and then added._

"_Don't worry I'll make it quick. Boss wouldn't like if I prolonged it. Hell, boss doesn't even want us to kill you. Oh well, I can just pin it on Fang here." gesturing to the snarling houndoom behind him. _

_Quicker than the eye could follow he stabbed Delia Ketchum right through the chest. There was a sickening squelch as he pulled the blade out. Blood dripped off the blade as Proton eyed is appreciatively. _

_Ash went berserk he screamed and lunged at Proton punch him in the thigh. Proton just laughed and grabbed him by the wrist in a painful grip._

"_Haha! You're a feisty one. I enjoy that, and it's not like boss knows you exist. Hell I didn't even know you existed till today. I don't see why I should kill you in fact I'll teach you a life lesson" he said with glee in his tone. He brought the blade up to Ash's chest._

"_Without pain, there can be no gain" he whispered before cutting upwards. Ash screamed and thrashed in his grip, Proton laughing all the while before. Repeating the process before he had three on his chest, arm and one on the face. He dropped Ash's convulsing body on the ground and started walking away Fang right on his heel. He stopped and looked over his shoulder._

"_If you live, I do hope we meet again." he said before continuing on as if taking a nightly stroll and not just stabbing a woman and scarring her son._

_Ash was crying and shaking uncontrollably. He didn't understand why anything was happening. Eventually he blacked out._

_He woke up in a white room hooked up to an IV. He was told a group of wild pidgey and pidgeotto and burst through the doors dragging his half dead corpse along. When questioned on what happened by League officials he told them everything. They just nodded and said they'd take care of it. Ash believed it for a bit._

_He was in the hospital for two weeks before they let him out. During that time he learned the League did nothing whatsoever in the investigation. Growing angry that they would just ship him off to an orphanage with a smile on their face he ran away._

_Flashback end_

Ash finished with an expressionless face. She was the first person he told. He had to admit it kind of felt good to tell a human being. He told Perses and Siren of course, but they couldn't really communicate with him.

Sabrina looked down at eight year old sadly. She knew the atrocities that Team Rocket did, but this was just disgusting. How could anyone do that to a six year old?

She dabbed her fingers into a healing salve that would ease the pain and increase the speed of healing for the ugly black and blue bruise still forming on his stomach. When she finished she wiped her hands on a towel before putting the supplies away. She grabbed a pair of clothes hat looked like they would fit Ash, to get rid of his tattered and scratched up clothing.

Wordlessly she handed Ash a pair of grey sweatpants and a black t shirt. He took them, walked into the bathroom attached to the room and changed. He looked at his ruined clothing in disgust. He would need to buy something else.

Walking out he found Sabrina braiding her hair, she had already changed into purple pyjamas. He noticed the dark rings under her eyes showing how tired she was. Standing there in comfortable silence until she was done. She then picked him and laid him into her bed before lying down beside him, still holding him.

She must of felt his unasked questing because she gave a soft laugh.

"After telling me all that, I can assume some physical contact with a human would make you feel better. Plus, I kind of feel like you're my little brother or something like that."

Ash smiled into her shoulder. It was rather nice to think of Sabrina as a big sister. And so they fell asleep. If one were to look they would see a sweet scene of an older sibling comforting a younger one.

**Line Break**

It was a week before Sabrina let Ash go to the Dojo. She wouldn't even let him leave the gym as his shoulder needed time to heal and he wasn't doing anyone favours by getting himself hurt further.

When he left her room it was only to go to her training room. He didn't feel very comfortable with the other psychics. Perhaps that's what minimal human contact does to someone. He ate all his meals in Sabrina's bedroom and slept curled up with her every night. When not training, he would play with Perses and Siren they were anxious to see him since the incident.

In training all he did was meditate. Sabrina told him he first had to unlock his powers and the way to do that was search for the part of his mind that was closed to him. After four frustrating days of searching he found it. Breaking through it was the problem. It was like a castle behind walls, and a moat. He imagined himself breaking through a wall only for another one to appear. One time he almost broke through before it reset. How does your own mind outsmart you.

Until he accessed that part of his mind he couldn't continue in training, as everything was built from there.

So here he was standing outside the Dojo not knowing what to expect. He sighed before pushing the double doors open and stepping inside.

Yells and grunts filled the area. In one corner was a ring where people and pokemon were sparring alike. In another corner was equipment to build muscles and endurance. While martial arts were form fitting and all, it couldn't hurt to put on an extra bit of practice.

Mats litter the greater part of the area, where stretches, techniques and even more spars were happening and demonstrated. The rest of the floor was hardwood with the lights reflecting off them. Ash frowned there wasn't a single kid here. Everyone looked at least sixteen and up.

He sought out Kiyo but not finding his familiar face (he had seen him before) headed towards two doors. One he assumed was lead to living areas, while the other was Kiyo's private quarters. He took time to admire the area. It was said Bruno of the Elite was said to grow up here.

He received curious glances, but all in all nobody approached him. He reached a door that was labelled 'Kiyo' and knocked politely.

"Come in!" a deep voice bellowed. Ash complied and quietly slipped in closing the door with a soft 'thud' behind him.

Kiyo sat behind a desk going over some papers. Probably bills or something of the sort. He was a big man with tanned skin and onyx black eyes. He had spike black hair tied back with a red sash. He was bulging with muscles, but not in an ill manner.

Kiyo eyed the small child before him. He had raven black hair not unlike his own that was messy and disorderly. Pale blue eyes studied him curiously and a bi anxiously. A child had never come to him in his quarters before. Heck, a child had never entered the dojo before, alone that is.

"What can I do for you, little one?" he asked curiously.

Ash looked him dead in the eye with a serious expression.

"I want to be your apprentice." he said.

Kiyo's eyes widened. Never before had this happened! Not even Bruno came until the age of sixteen.

He leaned back in his chair and studied the boy with a critical eye. He couldn't be any older than ten, most likely younger. Scars on his arm and a single one on his face showed he had faced much hardship already. But he looked for that sign. Kiyo could never tell you what it was. It was more of a 'know it when you see it' sign. He only trained those who possessed the quality. There! In his eyes the bright flames of determination. The boy was worthy and strong. He would take him in and train him until he fists bled, his feet felt like lead and he couldn't move muscle.

"Yes my boy, you will be my apprentice." he said with a shine of joy only a teacher could get in their eyes when they found a promising student.

_**That was the longest chapter I have ever written for anything. Nearly 12.5k words, almost 30 pages. I wanted to do twenty as a goal, but I didn't like the way I started with rich boy battle.**_

_**I'm not going to make Ash OP with psychic powers and stuff, he'll be able to use them, but not up to par with a graduate of Sabrina more like a student. It'll be minor stuff too, sensing things here, lifting things there. I always loved Sabrina and felt like it would be original to have big sister relationship to Ash. **_

_**I wanted Ash to learn to fight and defend himself and Kiyo seemed like the guy to teach him. He'll be needing those skills soon. I'm debating one whether doing a two year time skip so he's ten or four so he's twelve. I'm leaning towards twelve but I'd like your opinions.**_

_**I don't think I've ever read Ash getting a feebas or milotic and I love milotic. Ash won't get all his pokemon by rescuing them, I just felt that his two I guess more favoured pokemon should have a closer relationship with him and saving their lives is a good way to start.**_

_**That being said I expect a good amount of feedback. I update when I want, but if I see one of my stories is favoured then the other I'll work on that. So R&R.**_


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